Point Boro Boy Gets Football Fun After Surviving Near-Fatal Illness

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Maren Stockhoff says she and her husband, Stephen, had no idea anything was seriously wrong until Landon kept vomiting for several hours with what they thought was a stomach bug.

He was lying on the couch, Maren nearby, when “all of a sudden he was lethargic,” she said. Landon spoke to her and her husband but wasn’t making sense. Then he passed out.

Landon was rushed to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune and admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit.

“He was in septic shock,” Maren Stockhoff said. He tested positive for a strain of streptococcus but doctors initially could not figure out the source of the strep. Multiple tests left the doctors scratching their heads until Landon’s stomach started to swell about 12 hours or so after he was admitted to the hospital, she said.

At that point, Dr. Victoriya Staab ordered some imaging scans to see why his stomach was swelling, Stockhoff said. That’s when the intestinal blockage was revealed.

Landon had developed a hernia and his intestine had grown through the hole and twisted, Staab told the Stockhoffs.

“There’s a huge artery that supplies the blood flow to the two sections of the intestine and there should be a mesh in there,” Stockhoff said. “But he had just a gaping hole. With no symptoms they wouldn’t have seen it.”

The twist cut off blood flow and caused part of the intestinal tissue to die, Stockhoff said, and the dead tissue was the source of the strep that had infected his bloodstream.

“He almost died because it progressed very quickly,” she said.

The reason Landon had shown no signs of illness or discomfort before he started throwing up was because the site was very small. It wasn’t something a routine physical or screening would have picked up, and it wasn’t even immediately visible on imaging scans until his abdomen began to swell, Staab told the Stockhoffs.

Staab performed emergency surgery to remove several inches of Landon’s small intestine, and doctors were able to stabilize him and fight off the sepsis.

“We almost lost him,” Stockhoff said. “She’ll be our angel forever.”

Recovery begins

Landon spent six weeks at Jersey Shore University Medical Center’s Hovnanian Children’s Hospital as his body slowly recovered from the sepsis and surgery, which left him with just 17 percent of his small intestine, Stockhoff said.

“He was very ill,” Stockhoff said, and he could barely walk and couldn’t talk because he had thrush, a side effect of the antibiotics used to treat the sepsis.

There was an initial attempt to reconnect his small intestine but it wasn’t successful, so Landon ended up with a temporary ostomy, she said. He was transferred to Children’s Specialized Hospital in New Brunswick to begin physical therapy and other therapies to rebuild his stamina and strength.

It was while he was at Children’s Specialized Hospital that Landon first made contact with the Rutgers University football program, with players Isaiah Washington and Victor Konopka visiting to help lift his spirits.

“My son loves football,” Stockhoff said. “He lives and breathes it.”

Washington and Konopka outfitted Landon, who plays for the Point Pleasant Pirates, with Rutgers gear and played Madden football with him in the recreation room at Children’s Specialized Hospital.

While Landon was working to regain his strength, his parents researched what’s called “short gut,” which affects the body’s ability to absorb nutrients because you don’t have enough small intestine, according to the Mayo Clinic.

They connected with specialists at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital who specialize in the condition, Stockhoff said.

In September they traveled to Cincinnati and the doctors there were able to reverse Landon’s ostomy and reconnect the portions of his small intestine. He remained hospitalized there for about a month, receiving therapy until he was strong enough to return home to Point Pleasant, she said.

Recovery includes allowing his small intestine to slowly recovery its ability to absorb nutrients from foods. That meant slowly ending feedings through a gastric tube, which he was receiving along with intravenous nutrition.

“Now he’s down to just the IV nutrition,” she said.

Over time Landon’s small intestine will adapt and learn to absorb nutrients, the doctors told the Stockhoffs.

“With kids, they’re still growing. It takes at least a year for the small intestine to adapt as it rehabs and learns what to do,” she said. They are hopeful that Landon will reach a point where he no longer needs any supplemental nutrition.

Getting back to normal

Landon was able to return to school at last, and the transition academically has been smooth, Maren Stockhoff said.

“He was able to stay on top of his school work through home instruction,” she said, and in Cincinnati there was an in-hospital teacher who worked with him to keep Landon up to speed.

About the same time, Landon and his family were treated to a special day at Rutgers University, where Landon was a “Shining Knight of the Game” at the Scarlet Knights’ game against Maryland on Nov. 25.

The day included Landon leading the pregame parade down to Scarlet Knight Way and a prime spot in the high-five line greeting Coach Greg Schiano and the Rutgers team members as they got off the buses, officials said.

Landon and his family, including his sister Keira, then were celebrated on the field as fans at the game saluted Landon with a standing ovation, all part of the program collaboration between Rutgers University and RWJ Barnabas, officials said.

“We’re very lucky, very fortunate and blessed,” that Landon is recovering and returning to a normal life, Maren Stockhoff said.

In addition to their gratitude to the doctors and medical staff who saved Landon’s life and have helped him through his recovery, the family has found support through groups of other families who have children with short gut, including ones who have had similar experiences to what happened to Landon.

“There’s such a community of people who have gone through this, who we have connected with,” she said, adding she and Stephen hope to give back that support to others.

“You hear these things about a child with a rare illness, and it can feel like you’re alone,” she said. “Even if one person whose kid has this can take hope from us, that’s what we want.”

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